Kenny Chesney and Renee Zellweger never divorced – they decided to annul instead

Kenny Chesney and Renee Zellweger infamously annulled their marriage after only four months. Why they didn’t simply divorce is seems obvious now: they wished it had never happened.

Annulled in December 2005

The marriage of Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney is one of those infamous ones that regularly make it into lists of shortest celebrity marriages ever. Whilst they did make it to four months, they also only had a four-month relationship prior to getting married, setting new records either way.

Renee and Kenny hug

When they were married Kenny said he was the happiest man alive. But that tune soon changed and Renee filed for annulment of their union. The reason given for the annulment was fraud.

Of course, news papers and gossip rags went absolutely mental of the fraud allegation in the filing and they came up with all kinds of reason as to what kind of fraud Kenny might have committed. In the end they mostly seemed to settle on Kenny being gay and thus having deceived Renee.

At the time Kenny and Renee both chose to keep quiet about the reason for the annulment, though it was said at some point that ‘fraud’ was merely a legal term used, because the other alternatives would have been abuse, bigamy, force or insanity, among others. None of those were in any way true and apparently fraud simply seemed the most ubiquitous term to use.

Kenny at least came to regret this choice, however, and one wonders why the couple didn’t just divorce. Years after the fact both Kenny and Renee spoke out about their short-lived union. At the time both had wanted to respect each other and refrained from saying anything, but at some point all bets were off and they simply had a desire to clarify the situation.

As such Renee has called her marriage to Kenny her single biggest personal mistake in her life. Whilst she certainly cared for Kenny enough to want a marriage, they were in such completely different mindsets that they should never have married to begin with.

Kenny seems to agree. He admitted that he did love Renee. But he also doesn’t believe they should have married. He considers himself a free spirit, who had no idea what marriage even meant. When the reality of it hit him he panicked and just wanted out again.

Renee and Kenny agreed on annulment and on choosing ‘fraud’ as the reason. And ultimately it is probably fair to say that some form of fraud took place. Renee wanted to get married; Kenny was incapable to be married. Yet he went ahead with it anyway.

They annulled the marriage, which essentially means it never really happened. It also meant that nothing had to be settled between the two. Their eight-month relationship was over and both moved on in different directions.

Kenny has still not settled down and does not seem to want to. He likes his independence too much. Renee on the other hand has been linked to several men after her marriage ended, but has been dating her current partner Doyle Bramhall, also a musician, since 2012. Should she go down the aisle again her marriage would at least be built on a much more solid foundation.